They stepped into the room cautiously, dangling a flashlight. It's glow stopped on the broken glass. One of them started to get excited and say something like, "I told you I heard..." before the other shushed him. They readied their weapons, two sub-machine guns, but one of them had a sword slung across his back, and the other guy had what looked like real thick but sharpened pieces of wood stuck in loops on his belt. The light danced up towards the curtains on the window, under the chairs, and all around. It was making a full sweep around the room, and when it finished... it would be pointed at the door.

The guards had checked their flanks when they first came in, and even around the door, but Liz had climbed over the door frame by that point, holding her breath. They hadn't checked behind my cabinet yet. One of the guys stared hard at the other cabinet, the one I had left open.

I wiped sweat out of my eyes, and got up slowly. I pulled out my flat-head screwdriver, and held it like a knife. I made sure I could reach either the crowbar or the hammer in a pinch, and started to slide over to the door.

Their light was on the right-side wall now, covering everything it could. I backed towards the door, now not breathing myself. I don't think any of us were. I suddenly wished I wasn't a heavy smoker.

Sometimes, that's all it takes.

Just one, stupid, little thought to break your concentration.

I banged my elbow on the doorknob. Hard.

The guys started to whirl around, and so did I, to bolt as fast as I could, when a hand reached down towards me. Liz grabbed me by the collar, and lifted me up over the door, but out in the hall. She was hanging with her feet up on the wall, her back to it, so she could peek under the door frame, twisting her head around again in that weird way. She pulled me up by my collar quickly, and I got my feet on the wall, to where it looked like I was straddling her, so they wouldn't be dangling in view. The guards never got a look at me; Liz was that fast, but all the exertion could be seen in her eyes. We all still weren't breathing.

I brandished the screwdriver in a panic; never, not for one second, did I thinks she had my well-being in mind. She retaliated by grabbing me around the throat. And then the guards stepped out into the hallway, and we both got real still.

The two guys never looked up, but out to the sides, and then at each other. They nodded and split up, going in either direction.

Liz and I alternated from looking at the guards to gazing at each other with hate, but my vision was getting fuzzy. She seemed to notice this, and started to grin. Her eyes darted to my arms, which were starting to go limp. I smirked back at her when she looked back at me, and flicked my eyes to my hand, the one with the screwdriver.

I very dramatically started to take my fingers off it, one by one.

The guards were still in sight, but far enough away to not hear her hiss in anger. I shrugged at her. I didn't need to say anything. Let her choke me out.

Then let me drop the screwdriver, and make a noise.

She didn't know what to do; it was as plain as the scars wrapped around her body. Her eyes kept darting to mine, then to the screwdriver, and then to the guards, and then back, and over, and over, and over. It was funny as hell. Even slowly dying, dangling a good seven feet off the ground, I just wanted to laugh in her distorted face.

She then bit at her lip—probably a nervous reaction from back when she was alive. The needle teeth pierced it, but she didn't pay attention to that. Slowly, carefully, she started to loosen her one hand from the wall. We both started to move downwards fractions of an inch. Her toes and their claws started to look strained, and looked like they were bending a bit too far. It looked rather painful. She cursed, and I started to notice that everything looked a shade darker.

I couldn't tell how far away the guards were anymore. The footsteps weren't as loud, but that could have been because the blood pumping in my ears was drowning them out.

She stretched her hand towards the screwdriver again, and we started to slide just like before. One of her claws looked like it was going to tear off her toe. She didn't make a single sound though. Tears filled her eyes, blood started to dribble out of her bit lip as she bore down harder and harder, but she didn't make one sound.

I twitched my hand away from hers. That's all it was, a twitch, but I didn't know down from up anymore. My feet started to slide down the wall as I used my strength for that one, little twitch. This threw off our already terrible balance, and Liz bit down harder and shut her eyes. One of her ankles was twisting in an unnatural way. But she still blindly groped for the screwdriver. I wasn't smiling anymore, and was weakly trying to move my hand from hers. She then snapped open her eyes and made a desperate lunge, and we slid a full inch. I was almost parallel to the ground, and she was on the verge of screaming and crying her lungs out.

She noticed it first, and I followed her eyes in time to see the orb fall out of my pocket.

We both said, "No!" and the breath for that was the final straw. Her feet pulled away from the wall, leaving tearing marks in the wood. The orb fell, and it landed, miraculously, in a large potted plant.

We, on the other hand, slammed right onto the floor.

She was on top of me, scratching at my face. I slapped at her with one hand, and stabbed at her with the screwdriver still held in the other. Neither one of us were making any good hits; we were both out of it from hanging over the door. We probably looked like two sissy little kids slapping at each other during a temper-tantrum, complete with calling each other names. I don't think either of us are proud of the things we said to one another, so I'll just leave all that out. My, well, our reputations are bad enough.

It was quite offensive, though.

But then we heard the footsteps coming back. Fast.

We both sprang up, completely forgetting about our little spat. We were both standing wide-legged, flicking are heads about, trying to find a hiding spot. That didn't do much, so, naturally, we started doing the next best thing, which was spinning around in circles. We couldn't go back into the lounge room we were just in, that'd be too obvious; they wouldn't let us go that easily a second time around. Try to run and fight? Hell no, they had guns. That was probably too much even for Liz.

We both then spotted the doors to the library, and started to push and shove each other as we ran to it. We tumbled over one another as she tackled me while I opened the doors. I managed to spin us both so I was on top of her this time, and I brought my arm up so my hand was past my face and my elbow wrapped around my chin, and I gave her a few hits by slamming my elbow down into her nose. I then turned and shut the door behind us, because I wasn't raised in a barn.

She took the opportunity to try and throw me off. I really just slid off, but she seriously was probably going to throw me smack into the wall. I got her shoulder with the screwdriver though, and that slowed her down some.

I rolled, and saw that she was back on her feet, claws at the ready. Still on my knees, I reached behind me and whipped out the crowbar with my free hand before she could close in. She charged, and I swung at her hard, but she caught my arm and cut it up a bit. It still threw her off balance, so I was able to get back up. She had run past me, so she whirled around, and used the momentum to add extra force to her next barrage of slashes.

I backed up, trying to stay away. I guarded my face with my screwdriver hand, and swung at her when I could with the crowbar. It wasn't doing any good. She was getting closer, and closer, and her smile was getting wider, and wider. So were my eyes.

I swung the crowbar in an arc, thinking I had an opening to smash her head, but she quickly flicked her hand up and gave me a few more cuts. I dropped the crowbar, and she grabbed it and swung for my ribs. I didn't know what the hell was going on anymore; she'd almost strangled me, the tension had gotten to me, and I never had much energy, anyway, especially compared to a friggin' monster. I moved in, looking to stick her guts with the screwdriver, like I would against a normal person. She had the crowbar now, and the arm with the crowbar hooked around my back in an awkward embrace while she darted her other hand up and got my throat again, starting to squeeze. Nice and quiet; that's what she had planned for me. I got the screwdriver up and stuck it right in the back of her hand. It bought me a little slack, but not much. At least she wasn't smiling anymore.

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Heavy footfalls stopped right outside the library doors.

Her look and grip slackened, and she glanced at me in a panic. I looked towards the door and the shuffling feet making noise at the other side. I could hear the guys whispering, but I couldn't hear what they were saying or how many there were. I gulped.

"Do you think there's more...?" she whispered.

"Shhh!" was the response.

The guys were making all sorts of noise in the hall. Did they find the orb? Were they looking at the marks in the wall from Liz?

Were they coming in here?

The door had one of those large old-fashioned key holes, the ones just the right size where you could look through them if you put your eye up to it. I licked my lips, and then looked at Liz until she made eye-contact. I nodded at the door, at the key hole. She looked at it, and bit her lips. Closing her eyes, she nodded, and then looked back at me with a fierce—but still nervous—look.

I mouthed a count to three to her, and we both started towards the door. We both hadn't changed our positions; her arm was still around me with the crowbar and her hand was around my throat, but she wasn't squeezing anymore. I still had the screwdriver in her hand, but I didn't jostle it at all. We walked on tip-toe, keeping our eyes on the door, both ready to spring if the handle turned. Spring to what, neither of us knew; we were leaving it all up to panic to figure out.

Every time there was a noise, we stopped moving, shaking against one another. We could barely go three steps without that happening. We both cocked an ear to the door, trying to make out what they were saying, and hoping they hadn't stopped talking. That would mean only one thing.

We finally reached the door, and slowly got to our knees. I started to put my eye up to the keyhole, and I knocked my forehead into Liz's. That almost got us both started up again, but we eventually calmed down. We both leaned towards the key hole together, trying to make it work. For one thing, the screwdriver was getting in the way, but I wouldn't pull it out and she wouldn't take her hand away. What ended up happening was I had to lay my head back flat so she could still grasp it, and I had to maneuver the screwdriver a bit, even though it hurt her. She laid her cheek on mine, and we both looked through the key hole.

It took us a few seconds to make out what we were seeing. It was the front of a belt buckle.

So, we were looking at the upper waist and lower torso of a man. The front of said man.

We both froze, and looked at each other as best we could. Our faces said it all: what now?

Then some guy out of view whispered, "Hey, look at this!"

The guy in front of the door turned to him. He then waved a hand dismissively, and turned back to the library doors. He took one hand off his gun, and started to reach for the knob.

Liz and I were rubbing our cheeks together because we were shivering so much. It could have been cute and comforting. Could have.

The guy pulled his hand back. He turned—in both directions. It looked like he moved his arms. Footsteps sounded. The guy in front of the door said, "Get in position." He then slid out of view, presumably to the side of the door. The knob moved softly, as if someone was touching it.

"Just one second, sir!" It was that voice from before. "She's not in there, she's not in anywhere!"

"What?"

"Above the door here, see? She's climbing on the goddamn walls. She could be right above us, or anywhere! Stop acting like we're hunting a normal target! That's what happened last time!"

Several people passed in front of the keyhole. The guy who was standing in front of the door said, "And who the hell are you to talk to me like that? I'm your superior...!"

"Yeah, I know, but you haven't seen what I've seen. I know I'm just a consultant, but I've been up against shit like this before..."

"You're not loyal to Master Laidlaw! You're just some puppet from someone who would like to see him go down!"

We could both see the hall a bit now, but most importantly the plant the orb had fallen into. There was a very faint glow, but neither of us could see the orb itself. Neither could the men in the hallway.

"Master Laidlaw asked for help! He was sure that he was in danger, especially his son who was taking holiday in Italy..."

"Leave him out of this! We've had enough terrible things happen here, don't bring that up!"

"If he just would have stayed in..."

The boss man started to lay into the consultant. Liz put the crowbar down, and started to squeeze my throat again. Her now free hand reached for the doorknob.

I just took it. I let her push me down, and I started to close my eyes. I acted like I was feebly struggling, but I didn't do a damn thing. I let her put her hand on the knob. She smiled at me, and bared her teeth, mouthing the word, "Sorry." Yeah, sure, whatever.

I twisted the screwdriver, making her pull back. I then got my one hand on hers, the one on the knob, and quietly pulled the door open, all with a shark smile on my face. There was no way I was going to win if it was just the two of us. So, naturally, as she knelt there, shocked and confused, I slid from around her legs and crept into the hallway on my hands and knees, towards the plant. I left the bloody flat-head on the floor.

All the guards were facing the lounge door, considering what the consultant said. The superior dude was still trying to tell them all he had the biggest dick out of all of them, but his argument was starting to sound even weak to him. I was halfway to the plant when Liz grabbed my arm. I went for the hammer and swung at her, not hitting anything, but not making any noise. She backed off, barely containing her hiss, and tried to worm around me. I grabbed her by the hair, but she pulled free, almost smashing into the wall. I pulled ahead, and was on top of the plant.

"Screw this," the superior said, and began to turn around.

The consultant guy grabbed, him, preventing it. "Think about your men, the ones who she killed. You want revenge, right? Anyone would, it's justice..."

"Don't you...!"

The consultant pulled him close, drawing a knife and putting it against his throat, all in one slick, flowing movement. "Then think about this," he said, "Who took her down? I did. So shut up and listen."

I saw it, the orb. It was right there. I cupped my hand around it, to keep the glow from being seen, and pulled it out.

Liz stood over me, grabbing my throat with one hand and using the other to get the arm with the hammer. She started to reach for the orb. I put it back down, as well as the hammer, and reached towards the closest guard.

I had taken a sidearm from an unsuspecting cop once, right out of his belt. I hoped I was going to get lucky twice, and the good way, for once.

I unbuttoned the holster, and neither the guard nor Liz noticed a thing. Her eyes were on the orb, wide, greedy, but at the same time, perplexed.

And then they were on the .45 I shoved against her forehead.

I turned us both around, picking up the hammer first and putting it back in my bag, and the orb into my pocket. I made her take a few steps back by motioning with the pistol. I then mouthed my own word, "Bang!"

She was furious. She almost stamped her foot, and dug her fingernails, or more like claws, into her palms, and flung her hands downwards, having a fit. I backed away from all of them, keeping the gun on Liz the whole while. I then spied a branching hallway, and ducked down it, leaving all them there.

I jogged through the mansion, sticking the gun in my belt and trying to think of what to do next. I knew I couldn't get out the same way I came in, because the guards were probably were still there, and even if not, Liz would head me off. I figured I should make a distraction, and in the best case scenario, get all them to fight each other. That way, they would think they caught the intruder.

"The boss says we should check the walls, she can climb walls." Two of them, headed my way.

The only thing I could do was lame: hide behind a curtain for one of the large windows. I held my breath as they passed, and let it out after they were pretty far away. Then, I noticed something.

The orb was moving past my face. Upwards.

I jerked around and saw Liz above me. She shoved the orb in her dress, and then clambered down quickly. I went for the gun and crouched, waiting for her pounce, but she completely ignored me.

The hall had a little bench and two chairs on my side. She grabbed a chair, and flung it into the window, creating a horrible crashing noise and it smashed through. My face went slack, and as I looked back from the window and at Liz, who was crawling away on the wall, she turned and blew a kiss at me.

"Good luck," she said, and then slithered into a dark corner of the ceiling, out of my sight.